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Chipmakers make gains

Elpida Memory Inc, Japan's largest maker of computer memory chips, led Asian chipmakers higher after Mizuho Securities Co raised its rating on the stock, citing expectations that oversupply in the industry may be easing.

Elpida climbed 4.3 percent, rounding off a record 28 percent, three-day gain on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Hynix Semiconductor Inc, the world's second-largest memory chipmaker, gained 2 percent in Seoul. Memory makers in Taiwan including Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技) also rose.

"A tightening of supply/demand conditions is increasingly likely," said Eisaku Ohmori, a Tokyo-based analyst at Mizuho Securities, who raised his rating on Elpida to "buy" from "hold" in a report on Friday.

ProMOS Technologies Inc (茂德科技), Taiwan's third-biggest maker of computer-memory chips, said last Wednesday that it would close a factory longer than usual this year, raising hopes that the move may help ease an industry glut.

Chipmakers bucked the decline in global equity markets last week after computer memory chip prices had their biggest weekly gain in seven months.

Asustek to raise sales

Asustek Computer Inc (華碩電腦), the world's largest maker of boards that connect computer parts, will increase manufacturing sales by 20 percent to 30 percent this year, the chief executive officer of the company's two production units said.

Total consolidated revenue from manufacturing was US$15 billion last year, said Jason Cheng (程建中), CEO of manufacturing units Pegatron Technology Corp (和碩聯合科技) and Unihan Technology Corp (永碩聯合科技), at Asustek's year-end briefing at its Taipei headquarters yesterday.

Pegatron, which took over manufacturing of motherboards and other computer-related products from Asustek, will ship 10 million notebooks this year, two-thirds of which will be sold to the parent, Cheng said.

The unit expects motherboard shipments of between 35 million and 40 million this year, while notebooks will increase by between 20 percent and 30 percent, he said. Pegatron and Unihan were spun off on Jan. 1.

Yue Yuen falls 6.9% in HK

Yue Yuen Industrial Ltd (裕元工業), which posted a full-year profit that missed analysts' estimates last week, fell in Hong Kong trading after JPMorgan Chase & Co downgraded the stock to "neutral" from "overweight."

Yue Yuen, the biggest supplier of shoes to Nike Inc and Adidas AG, slid 6.9 percent to HK$22.90 at 10:40am after falling as much as 7.5 percent earlier. The stock has fallen 15 percent in 12 months, compared with the 21 percent increase in the benchmark Hang Seng Index.

"Sentiment is worsening both on the cost front and on demand from the US and Europe," Vineet Sharma, a Hong Kong-based analyst at JPMorgan, wrote in a report dated yesterday.

Morgan Stanley, in a separate report, cut its price target for Yue Yuen to HK$26 from HK$27.4.

Premier moves on death tax

Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) instructed his deputy yesterday to study the feasibility of lowering the inheritance tax to 10 percent.

The move follows Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Frank Hsieh's (謝長廷) remark on Sunday that imposing an inheritance tax top rate of 40 percent is "not low enough to make it attractive or competitive," while a 10 percent inheritance tax proposal would make the country's taxation system fairer and was "something that could be done right away."

NT dollar weakens

The New Taiwan dollar yesterday weakened by NT$0.033 to trade at NT$32.348 against the greenback on turnover of NT$800.5 million.
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